I was at college all day and when I got home I just saw my mum and auntie staring at the TV like they was in some sort of trance. I looked and that’s when I saw it, the news saying how terrorists had attacked. I just sat down and watched the news for about 2 hours or more, not being able to take my eyes of the screen as I was so shocked and couldn’t believe it.

I can’t believe all those people have been killed. It’s been 3 months now and I still can’t get over it. Why would people be so cruel as to kill and hurt thousands of people they don’t even know?! I felt like crying when I heard and saw what had happened. I just didn’t know what to say or feel, I was just….just….numb….

I can’t really write much more as I haven’t really got anything else to say. There isn’t anything I could say to bring those people back as much as I wish there was. I just want to say sorry to all those people’s family and I wish I could help. I have signed the condolence book in my hometown, Nottingham, and now I’m signing this to simple say sorry too all those people’s families and I hope everything works out and nothing like this will ever happen again. R.I.P

*Emma* | 16 | United Kingdom

#420 | Sunday, December 9th 2001

September 11th, 2001 started like any other day for me. I woke up, went through my morning ritual, and eventually found myself at High School around 7:00am, where I would go every single day of the week, save national holidays. This particular day, I went on a field trip in my Enviromental Science class to do a community service project at a state local park. It was about nine or so in the morning; we had just finished plowing a garden and were trudging towards our next assignment when one of the park rangers approached us with chilling news: A plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. That was the only information we had recieved, and it seemed that the lady herself had little knowledge on what had happened.
We proceeded as normal throughout the day, but the thought of a plane crashing into a building as renowned as the World Trade Center simply shocked me. With the little information I had received from the park ranger, I assumed that some small plane had gone off course and clipped the building, causing minor damage. I couldn't possibly comprehend the disaster that had occured in actuality. But when I returned to school that day at lunchtime, the full scope of the disaster hit me like a brick hurtling at the speed of sound.
I approached my friends at our lunch table with a slew of questions to ask. I could tell that something very terrible had happened; the mood was grim, the air so thick with soberiety I could cut it with a knife. I asked my close friend, Justin, what had exactly happened. He explained that a pair of hijacked airliners had plowed through both towers of the World trade Center, LEVELING both buildings even before I arrived back at school. Somewhere along the line he mentioned that Washington had been hit as well, but my two-dimentional mind never completely absorbed it.
I cannot even begin to express the surge of emotions that swallowed me when I absorbed what my freind had told me. Although I never shed a tear, my entire soul plunged into grief and shock, a deep and hollow pain that agonized me for the next several days.
I reflected a lot about the twin towers and how they effected my life; the most significant memory that came to mind was when I had traveled to New York City with my father when I was seven, and how we had taken the subway to Manhattan and visited the trade towers; I remember looking up and seeing two gigantic columns of steel and glass rising up almost as far as I could see, and how the sight had stole my breath; I remember how we had taken the elevator all those floors up to the observation level and looked down upon the world as if we were floating in space.
The more gruesome details of the events were revealed to me later in day via news channels, details that further widened the hole that was forming in my chest. When I saw a chronological showing of the days events, the awful reality of the situation finally made it's way into my mind; denial and ignorance quickly fell back as the truth shone. I watched as the first, then the second plane impacted; the flames erupting from the towers and the bodies of countless individuals plummeting from the windows; the rush of rescue personnel as they raced into the buildings to save the injured and wounded; the spray of debris as the towers imploded from weakened support beams, the hundereds of lives crushed in the inferno of concrete, metal, and fire; and the fog of dust as it settled upon lower Manhattan.
My selfish mind was so absorbed by the chaos in New york that I barely flinched when I viewed the images of what also had happened in Washington and Pennsylvania. I would be unable to fully accept those terrible events until much later in the day.
What happened on 9/11 has changed me forever. Whether it has changed me for better or for worse, I will probably never find out. I can only hope that all of the people that died on September 11th will rest in peace and will go on to a better existance somewhere else, somewhere where such violent acts of violence could never occur. God Bless America!!!

Max Donner | 16 | Florida

#418 | Sunday, December 9th 2001

I was in Geometry class when a teacher came in and said that 2 planes hit the World Trade Center. The rest of the day we were all numb. We were afraid of a nuclear war. We were afraid of our families enlisted in the armed services dying in a war. I was afraid of never seeing my family again.

Bo | 16 | Kansas

#347 | Saturday, December 8th 2001

I was in my American Government class that morning. When I got out of the class, I turned the radio in my car, and all I could make out from the confusion of what I heard was that the WTC had been hit twice. I drove home and watched TV untill i had to go to the high school. There every one had heard by then. It is so sad. There was little to do exept help those in our school who knew they had relatives in the 3 areas. Marietta is so far from NY, DC, and PA but i had never felt to close to the rest of the country in my 16 years.

Thank you to everyone who helped and gave their lifes. I will return the favor by never forgetting the sacrafices you have made.

Michael | 16 | Ohio

#331 | Saturday, December 8th 2001

I was at school about a mile from the pentagon, we could hear the explosions from there. They announced their had been terrorist attacks on the PA system, but it was durting the change of classes and no one really listened. We got to our next class, then our teacher told us what happened, then there was a big explosion, it was a secondary explosion actually, and then there were some sonic booms due to fighter jets taking off. We sat in school for 5 hours watching the news... the national guard was outside.... our school was in lockdown... a day I'll never forget.